Why Portugal
The country runs six hundred kilometres north to south and changes completely along the way. The Minho and the Douro are green, wet and hilly; Lisbon and the Alentejo are dry and bright; the Algarve is Mediterranean despite the Atlantic. The Azores and Madeira are two hours away by plane and share neither the climate nor the season.
The Atlantic cools everything: even in August the sea rarely passes twenty degrees on the west coast, and the north wind gets up in the afternoon. Anyone after warm water should be looking at the eastern Algarve, not Peniche.
Entry and stay
An EU and Schengen country. An identity card is enough for nationals of the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
For other nationalities: the European Entry/Exit System (EES) has been in service since 10 April 2026 and digitally registers third-country nationals at every crossing of a Schengen external border, with or without a visa. ETIAS, a twenty-euro authorisation for visa-exempt nationalities, is expected in the final quarter of 2026.
Source: France Diplomatie and the European Commission, checked on 22 September 2026.
Getting around
CP trains link Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon well; the Alfa Pendular is the fast service, the Intercidades its slower and cheaper equivalent. South of Lisbon the network thins out markedly and the coach — Rede Expressos — becomes the useful mode.
Lisbon and Porto have historic trams that are public transport, not attractions: Lisbon's 28 and Porto's 1 are taken with an ordinary ticket, and they are packed at the hours when tour groups board them.
The Azores and Madeira are reached from the mainland only by air. Between the Azorean islands there are seasonal inter-island ferries, but the flight remains the reliable link.
Money
Euro. Cards work everywhere, including for very small amounts, and the Multibanco network is dense and reliable.
Watch the nibbles set on the table without being ordered — olives, bread, cheese, butter. These are the couvert: they are charged per item if you touch them, and you can decline them without awkwardness. It is not a scam, it is a custom, but it catches you out once.
Before you go
The Portuguese Atlantic has strong currents and beaches that are unsupervised out of season. The flag system is enforced, and the central-coast beaches — Nazaré, Peniche, Ericeira — are not gentle swimming beaches.
Lisbon goes up and down: the city is built on seven hills and the calçada cobbles are slippery in the rain. Flat, smooth-soled shoes are a poor choice.
Outside Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve, French no longer gets you far; English, on the other hand, is very widely understood, including among older shopkeepers.